Monitoring the movement of goods from producer to consumer through the supply chain is becoming increasingly more challenging as goods are moved over increasingly larger distances in today's global economy. The challenge is increased for products that must be moved through a cold chain, the supply and distribution chain for products that must be kept within a specific temperature range, such as pharmaceuticals or perishable foods. The movement of products through a cold chain is further complicated due to regulatory concerns that require accurate monitoring of environmental conditions, such as temperature, to prevent loss of integrity, freshness or quality of environmentally sensitive goods. Thus, it becomes necessary to be able to generate a detailed transaction history for a particular product including the physical location, the time spent at each location, record of ownership, packaging configuration and environmental storage conditions for each product. Or, put more simply, it is necessary to trace the pedigree for each product to ensure product integrity and to satisfy regulatory oversight.
Data loggers provide the ability to passively record long-term data relating to cold chains without the need for continuous monitoring from quality control personnel or the like. Data loggers typically comprise small, self-contained electronic devices that are stowed in warehouses, or trucking, rail or shipping containers to monitor storage conditions such as temperature or humidity. As such, data loggers typically include a battery, electronic memory devices, sensors, LCD displays and circuitry. Upon arrival of the data logger at a receiving site, such as a manufacturer, distributor or clinical trial administrator, the pedigree information must be extracted from the logger such that it can be used both immediately at the site of the logger and at later at a remote location after transmission, such as over a network or the internet. Often the pedigree information is in the form of raw data that must be processed by proprietary software to be put into a user friendly report. Installation of such proprietary software, however, is both expensive and time consuming with respect to acquisition of useable data. Additionally, it is necessary to have hardware installed at the computer workstation, such as an infrared (IR) serial port interface or a universal serial bus (USB) interface, such that the pedigree information can be extracted. Not every computer workstation along the cold chain, however, has the necessary hardware installed. Furthermore, connection of the data logger to various types of data ports on the computer workstation can be difficult, as it is often cumbersome to mount the data logger to communication ports that are obstructed by placement of the workstation or are recessed into the workstation. There is, therefore, a need for a data logger having user friendly hardware and software to expedite generation of user friendly pedigree information reports.